Debt collection agencies

hotrocks68

Hi all......

So simply......if a DCA just had just your name and date of birth but,you had not registered on the electoral register for many years would thier search come to a dead end?

Thankyou in advance 👍

MEM62

Depends how hard they are looking. If you owe enough to make it worth their while they will find you.

MrsTinks

If someone really wants to find you they will eventually - they can of course also seek a CCJ against you at your old address and you wouldn't know as you no longer live there. The CCJ would be legal as it's against your last known address - if it's a few hundred pounds then it's unlikely to be pursued - if it's thousands then someone will potentially put more effort (or to them risk) into tracking you down. Arguably they could even google you although I have no idea how likely they are to do that - linked in, facebook etc - it can be easy to locate people if you really try.

National_Debtline

Another thing to note is that if you check your credit file based on your current address it may link it to your old debts and make it easier for a DCA to find you.

James
@natdebtline

hotrocks68

Hi,

Thankyou for the responce.
(The sum of money being considerable)

I think i read somewhere once that a mortgage company had hired a private detective to search for someone who owed a mortgage shortfall.....surely not?!?!
For if so,trace searchers could use methods such as banks,dvla,council tax,mobile phone contracts??? Seems we have no data protection.

Thankyou

MrsTinks

hotrocks68 wrote: »

Hi,

Thankyou for the responce.
(The sum of money being considerable)

I think i read somewhere once that a mortgage company had hired a private detective to search for someone who owed a mortgage shortfall.....surely not?!?!
For if so,trace searchers could use methods such as banks,dvla,council tax,mobile phone contracts??? Seems we have no data protection.

Thankyou

Of course you have data protection - in fact the rules surrounding it is actually VERY strict - but I think you're getting confused about what the data protection act actually is

Debtor tracers typically are able to access this information legally:

We have access to these databases
The Land Registry, detailing the ownership of every property in the UK
The BT database which is updated daily with the name of the registered bill payer, even if the number is ex-directory
The UK Directory Enquiry database which is updated with over 50,000 amendments every day
The Experian database giving details of any credit applications made for an individual and/or company at an address
The DVLA database giving the name and address of the registered keeper of a vehicle (only available if the case is being enforced through The Sheriffs Office).The HPI database giving details of any financial interest, number-plate changes and insurance write off information of a vehicle
Birth, death and marriage records for England & Wales from 1984

MEM62

hotrocks68 wrote: »

I think i read somewhere once that a mortgage company had hired a private detective to search for someone who owed a mortgage shortfall.....surely not?!?!
For if so,trace searchers could use methods such as banks,dvla,council tax,mobile phone contracts??? Seems we have no data protection.

Thankyou

Why not? If the amount was significant then the mortgage company would take appropriate steps to recover it. There is nothing underhand or wrong with that.

It has nothing to do with Data Protection. The Data Protection Act is supposed to prevent your data from being used inappropriately, not to allow people to hide form their debts. In some cases no doubt DP makes tracing people who owe money more difficult, even though that is not it's intended purpose. However, I am sure that there must be plenty of legitimate ways of locating individuals.

hotrocks68

Oh,and there was me thinking 'no electoral register,no can find'.

Right thats well and truly answered my question so,once again a big thank you to all you good peeps.